The Nigerian Law Society has asked an Abuja Federal High Court presided by Justice Emeka Nwite to order the allocation of one of the properties seized from former Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, to the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC.
The Nigerian Law Society, a professional association of Nigerian lawyers, made the request in a letter signed by its Executive Director, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, and the President, Ambassador Dahiru Aliyu, SCN.
The Nigerian Copyright Commission is one of the agencies under the Ministry of Justice, which was headed by Malami during the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The court presided by Justice Nwite had ordered the interim forfeiture of 57 properties linked to Malami and two of his sons, Abdulaziz Malami and Abiru-Rahman Malami, to the Federal Government.
Justice Nwite granted the order on Tuesday following an ex-parte application filed by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho.
The properties, valued at about N213.2 billion, are located in Abuja, Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna, and are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
In a letter addressed to Justice Nwite, dated January 7, 2027, the Nigerian Law Society specifically requested “allocation of Property No. 3130 within Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, FCT, Abuja, purchased in January 2021 at N360,000,000, comprising terraces, as headquarters of the Nigerian Copyright Commission as restitution and compensation pursuant to sections 319, 320 and 321 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.”
Justifying the request, the lawyers noted that Malami failed to provide a building for the Nigerian Copyright Commission during his tenure as minister of justice.
Parts of the letter read, “We write to request the Honourable Court to grant a final forfeiture of the above named property to the Federal Government of Nigeria to be used as headquarters of the Nigerian Copyright Commission which is an statutory agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
“Since the enactment of the legislation that established the Nigerian Copyright Commission in the 1980s, they have never had their own official headquarters building, they are tenants occupying 52 office spaces within the Federal Secretariat complex, Abuja, FCT.
“During his tenure (2015 to 2023) as the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malami, SAN as the supervising Minister has the opportunity to redress this lack of office building in Abuja by allocation of any of the confiscated buildings recovered by either the EFCC or ICPC.
“Rather than allocate any of the confiscated buildings recovered to be used as office building headquarters for the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Malami rather impoverished the said NCC.”
Jaja, who was Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Copyright Commission during Malami’s time as minister of justice, added in the letter that the request was made in made in interest.
Malami is standing trial before Justice Nwite over alleged N8.7 billion money laundering, alongside his wife, Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz.
